Knowledge, Awareness and Practice of Family Medicine Residents towards Lung Cancer Screening and Prevention

Abstract

Globally, lung cancer is the number one kind of cancer in terms of mortality, which annually claiming 1.8 million lives. This makes it crucial to cope with this disease much more actively and meticulously. In Saudi Arabia, lung cancer is on the rise, and is causing loss of lives of all age groups and genders, its ranked 4th among Saudi males and 17th among Saudi females in a 2014 survey. The primary prevention of lung cancer includes screening patients for and smoking cessation intervention, whereas secondary prevention includes different screening methods screening used to detect lung cancer in patients. The primary and secondary prevention of lung cancer are very effective strategies in coping this cancer and saving precious lives. Furthermore, knowledge and awareness among physians are substantial factors for the timely and effective screening of lung cancer, and lack of awareness in this regard can have negative impacts on its prevention and treatment. Therefore, this study was conducted to assess knowledge, awareness and practice of family medicine residents in Makkah city towards lung cancer screening and prevention. Self-administered online questionnaire was designed, tailored and tested by the researcher and validated ?by 3 consultants of family medicine specialty. Participation in this research was optional and ?voluntary. The questionnaire composed of two parts, personal and demographic variables and practice of self-screening regarding different tests.? Due to COVID-19, the questionnaire was constructed as a Google form, and then it was distributed online among the trainees. In total 65 (41 male and 24 female) family medicine residents responded successfully, personal computer and SPSS were used for data entry and analysis. From these 65 trainees, 31 respondents (47.69%) strongly agreed and 25 of them (38.46%) agreed that LCS is beneficial for patients. However, many of them lacked in the practice of lung cancer screening through Low dose CT scan and chest X-ray. Moreover, 15 of them perceived financial cost; 36 perceived lack of counseling; 17 considered the lack of perceived benefit of screening; 26 considered fears of positive results; and 14 considered the perceived risk of screening as a major barrier of LCS among patients. This study concluded that most of the family medicine residents were aware about the importance of periodic medical examination. However, many of them lack in practice of the lung cancer screening. Efforts should be made by different stakeholders to educate family medicine residents on regular basis. From public health perspective health awareness should be raised amongst those who do not have awareness about regular medical examination to prevent illnesses and to improve the knowledge of medical professionals.